RIVERSIDE: Eastside apartments set for long-awaited overhaul

Shonda Herold, housing project coordinator with the city of Riverside, stands on the second-floor balacony of the boarded-up city-owned Grand Prix apartment complex on Seventh Street on Wednesday, March 26. Riverside is moving ahead with efforts to improve the Chicago/Linden neighborhood.

Built in the mid-1960s, the Grand Prix apartments on Seventh Street in Riversideâs Eastside neighborhood have clearly seen better days.

The seafoam-green paint is peeling from the wood trim on the boxy, flat-roofed building, and the kidney-shaped pool was long ago filled with dirt that has sprouted weeds. Now vacant and boarded up, the complex is weeks from being demolished, the first big step in a city plan to improve the neighborhood officials call Chicago/Linden because itâs near that intersection.

Within two years, the Grand Prix and two other apartment buildings on the block will be replaced by an affordable housing complex that will have something for the community â" a public garden, childrenâs play area or a child care facility. Itâs part of an estimated $16.8 million strategy to make the area safer and more attractive for those who live there.

Residents who are aware of the cityâs plans say theyâre pleased with what theyâve already seen â" new coats of paint and freshly-planted flowers at several city-owned properties, and reduced crime â" but they also wonder if the upgrades still to come will be enough.

âI think itâs going to be good for the neighborhood, but while weâre investing so much in this four- or five-block radius, what about the rest of the (Eastside) neighborhood?â said Gloria Willis, 69, who has lived on nearby Lou Ella Lane for 15 years.

IMPROVEMENTS PLANNED

Fixing up the area, which lies between Chicago and Dwight avenues and West Linden and Seventh streets, has been a priority for city officials since 2006, housing project coordinator Shonda Herold said.

The overall strategy, created by a consultant with community input, includes installing new landscaping and more streetlights, improving driveways and alleys, reopening two cul-de-sacs that have become places for loitering, and building a community center at Patterson Park that could offer library programs, a commercial kitchen for public use, and activities for youths and seniors.

The city will seek grants, tax credits and other funding sources to minimize the cost to the general fund. Its housing authority so far has bought nine properties in the area, including the three that will be razed and redeveloped. Many tenants of those three complexes were able to move within the neighborhood, Herold said.

Some changes have already taken place.

Margaret Molina, who has lived in the area for more than three decades and manages two privately owned apartment buildings on Loma Vista Street, said improvements to city-owned properties such as new paint on buildings and fences is an incentive to other owners to fix up their properties.

Molina said as far as safety, there is an ongoing gang problem and the area goes through good and bad cycles, but âright now itâs at a good time.â

The next big change will be the new apartments on Seventh Street. Theyâll replace buildings that had leaky roofs, mold, failing floor joists and other hazards.

The city has three concept plans for the 33-unit complex. Which one gets built will depend on whether a home between two of the buildings is part of the project. Victor Castillo, who owns the house, said the city offered to trade another property for his, but he didnât want to move because his kids go to high school nearby.

Castillo said he doesnât know much about the cityâs plans for the area, but he thinks itâs become safer with police stopping by more often. Also, a nearby shopping center added more businesses that residents want, he said.

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